Max Zepeda is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Desert Mountain High School for AZPreps365.com

For many high schools across the Valley, the opportunities for athletic departments to provide facility upgrades are sometimes limited due to numerous factors: From the popularity of a sport on campus and the history of each program, to the financial aspects of how much a school can provide.

This was the situation at  Desert Mountain High School in Scottsdale, where the school’s volleyball program has significantly increased in popularity within the last five seasons, and with it came a program-shifting move to a new home:

In 2021, the girls at Desert Mountain received a gymnasium dedicated to being the home of Wolves volleyball.

However, the impact of how this team secured this facility is thanks almost entirely to head coach Dana Achtzehn, who took over the program in 2019. Desert Mountain assistant principal John Andrews was impressed with Achtzehn’s vision.

“I remember Dana from the moment he came in: he said that he had a plan, and part of his plan was to do what he's done with the gym,” Andrews said. “So he had told me what his vision was, and me and the board fully supported it, and we knew he was smart about running this kind of stuff.”

Achtzehn’s plan did not take long to come to fruition. Thanks to investments from boosters, parents, and his own pocketbook, Desert Mountain’s auxiliary gym was transformed into a volleyball homecourt advantage, which took nearly six months to remodel.

From repainting the walls of the gym and home locker room, to adding postseason banners and team photos, the auxiliary gym has become a volleyball palace amongst high school facilities.

“It always gets incredibly loud in here, and I think that’s what makes it so fun for us,” Achtzehn said. “It was always the goal for us to have a home court advantage we could feel week in and week out, and that’s what we have done.”

Desert Mountain volleyball has seen incredible turnout for regular and postseason matches since it was given a new home. However, for those who have seen the volleyball program evolve in the years before, having a gym dedicated to volleyball are not surprised by the rise in the sport's popularity on campus and the attention it has gotten amongst current and future players.

Assistant coach Kileigh Swinton, who joined Achtzehn’s staff the same year he came to Scottsdale in 2019, said she knew that his vision could bring the program front and center in the community.

“I think that Dana deserves all the credit for building the program and shaping it into what it is today, especially with now our own gym,” Swinton said. “The volleyball branding just all around that the gym, like with the girls’ headshots up on the wall and making the place our own, I think, helps draw the attention that we are getting now. I mean, it’s like every home match, the place gets more and more full.”

Nevertheless, Swinton said “work needs to be done” on the court regarding winning. In the meantime, the facility Desert Mountain now calls home will remain a unique sight in the high school volleyball landscape for years to come.